It is well known that different dental regions of the mouth have different cleaning and/or appearance requirements or goals. Conventional toothbrushes, however, have a single bristle field, so that the selection of particular bristle characteristics is a compromise. Some bristles in a single bristle field can be particularly adapted to clean interproximal areas of the teeth. The effectiveness of interproximal bristles, however, is often limited because the brush is moved throughout the entire mouth by the user. Thus, the position of the interproximal bristles, which are meant to reach between the teeth, are not always aligned with those areas. Having different toothbrushes to accomplish a variety of functions, for cleaning or appearance of particular regions of the teeth, however, is generally considered to be impractical and too time consuming.
Specific to power toothbrushes, particular dental requirements for different regions of the teeth can be met with the use of different brushheads, but it is inconvenient, as well as costly, to constantly change brushheads.
The use of a dental mouthpiece has the potential for accomplishing different cleaning needs with one appliance, thus overcoming the above-described problems of toothbrushes. Historically, however, mouthpieces have used a single type of bristle in the bristle field thereof.